Making sense of art and design industries

by wkandinsky

Recently Hadeland Glassverk hosted a digital exhibition called “Van Gogh Alive” which showed animated versions of his paintings on large screens. It was described by the host as a “… living  symphony of light, colour and sound.” The event caught my attention, but I decided not to go as I get easily overwhelmed if surrounded by flashing visual impressions. In the aftermath of the opening, the exhibition was slaughtered by profiled art critics who used terms like “rape”, “robbery” and “massive attack on the senses”.

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most successful artists of all time. He has been through all the seven stages of the economic value chain referred to as the art machine; from formal education to museum. Unfortunately, most of his success happened after his death. When he died at age 37, he was is in fact known for having sold only one painting in his lifetime.

Every since then the actors in the art machine has made sure the works of the deceased Van Gogh became the most highly priced in auction. He also got a namesake museum in Amsterdam in addition to being exhibited at the most acknowledged museums worldwide. It seems like people cannot get enough of the ‘tortured artist’.

However, for the general public museums can be intimidating or outright boring. Even though a museum is considered the idealized repository of art, it can in some ways also be considered a mausoleum. This is because, unless sold from museum to museum, the artwork moves no further.

If one has seen it in a certain location, one might not bother to see it again. It is therefore natural to assume there is a market of people seeking new ways of experiencing an artist. This is where Hadeland Glassverk comes in.

On the on side, it fulfils its purpose of being alternative and exciting. Unlike a 19th century painting, this type of digital extension of Van Gogh’s art is both interactive and scalable. Some economist will argue that the value of something can be measured in it’s price. According to these principles, if people are willing to pay to see this exhibitions, it must be valuable.

At the same time, cultural economist David Throsby argues cultural value and economic value are two different concept. And one of the elements of cultural value is authenticity. I can’t help but feel that our never ending need for consuming art is challenging this element. The exhibition at Hadeland Glassverk did not include any original paintings by Van Gogh and is merely an interpretation. Maybe I’m biased, but “Van Gogh Alive” doesn’t have any cultural nor economic value for me.

https://www.nrk.no/kultur/anmeldelse_-radbrekker-van-gogh-1.14632610

https://www.biography.com/artist/vincent-van-gogh